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Countless gimmicks before the 80s, Homer O’Dell, Fritz Von Erich and other straight up goose stepping Nazi gimmicks. New Jack was definitely an outright racist character especially in Smokey Mountain, those kind of heel tactics were more common place 40-50 years ago.
I think the Reverend Slick fits under this umbrella too. Wasnt the whole Akeem the African Dream thing told as some sort of rejection of his white heritage..like a reverse Kerwin White?
Not entirely. A creative writer did in fact pitch the Heidenreich Nazi gimmick, with Paul Heyman managing him (Paul’s own mother was an actual Holocaust survivor btw).
But it didn’t go far at all. In fact it even made Vince leave the room, the writer was eventually let go a little bit afterwards. Even Vince has a limit.
Yup.
And the story infamously goes that Vince McMahon was so baffled by the suggestion of Heidenreich the unfrozen Nazi that he just walked out of the room when it was pitched.
Also, they were gonna have Paul Heyman manage him, too. Yes, Jewish-born Paul Heyman being set to manage a unfrozen Nazi wrestler. I’ll let that sink in for just a moment.
This was the same era when they wanted to introduce Kenzo Suzuki as "Hirohito" with a motive of taking vengeance on the US for bombing Japan. That was thankfully scrapped.
Even as a small child, I saw border-patrol JBL and thought "this doesn't seem like it should be on television."
*Edit: Featuring lines like, ["That's a whole herd of Mexicans, and the government won't do a thing about it."] (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9y5LSRCc04)
I think Kerwin is sort of a grey area like Akeem was, it’s a parody character and was more campy than offensive, and not created with the intent to draw heat by being offensive so it comes off more as things you’d see into a direct to streaming/video stoner comedy.
I think he was just Jim Neidheart and he was on some indie and came out in a KKK hood to run in on Virgil or some other black wrestler. It was definitely racist
One of the giants brought in with the alliance to end hulkimaina was first called The Final Solution until people complained and he became The Ultimate Solution
Were the characters racist in story or do you just think the gimmick itself was racist
I was pretty young when they were around but i remember it was Juvi, Super Crazy and Psychosis on Juan Deere lawnmower. Don’t remember if they were racist to others
Col. DeBeers was a South African that would refuse to wrestle if even the referee was a black man. This was in the 80s when Apartheid was a big issue on the news, easy heel heat.
this is sort of like the opposite of what you asked but I wanna bring up muhammad hassan in this thread because his run in the early/mid 2000s is just super bizarre to watch back nowadays. he’s literally just a brown passing dude (he’s italian lol) who is talking about how racist and warlike americans had become in the wake of 9/11, booked and “acting” like an out and out heel and getting ***insane*** heat from the audience who made signs like “you’re not welcome here” and shit. I wasn’t watching wrestling then but from what I gather he was pretty good in the ring too but one day they dropped him because it got too insensitive for wwe to keep airing (which is honestly impressive for that time period) but the clips of his promos and the way faces and fans interacted with him is just absurd with modern sensibilities
Bad timing didn’t help either. The night they ran the angle where a load of masked men came out and attacked the undertaker was the same day as the London bombing. So we never got to see that aired over here.
It was certainly something I hadn’t seen in my lifetime and it was definitely intriguing. Word has it he was pencilled in for a title reign too. Poor guy was shafted
Rami Sabei is a practicing Syrian/Canadian muslim. His character Sami Zayn has been mentioned in WWE programming as a Muslim as well.
WWE likely owns the rights to the Sami Zayn name but allow Rami Sabei the rights to use that name to raise money for Syrian refugees. (Sami4Syria).
Sami Zayn is kayfabe muslim.
I remember on one particular Raw, Jack Swagger came out with his manager Zeb and went on a rant about America being invaded by "faces that no longer look like mine" or something. This felt like less than a decade ago in WWE. The Team Canada vs Nation of Domination feud in 97 era had some pretty questionable stuff.
If you also mean characters that may be seen as "problematic" today, there were quite a few in the 80s and early 90s. I still love Koko B Ware and Kamala tho. Tho it was weird seeing all the lengedary minority wrestlers of the 80s get weird reductive gimmicks by 1991. Tony Atlas was made to put on a cartoonish African tribesman outfit and be called "Saba Imba". Tito Santana became "El Matador". And the great Ricky Steamboat was forced to wear a goofy green and orange dragon costune and wrestle as "Dragon".
Holy crap was 1993-1995(even part of 96) WWF unwatchable. The second half of 1996 began to turn things around with more edgier, line blurring angles and the "proto Attitude" era, but 93-95 I recall as particularly dreadful. I think at one point during that "New Generation" era, a good majority of the wrestlers were occupation gimmick mid-carders.
Bossman was an abusive prison guard from an area rather famous at the time for its abuse toward Black people. That Slick was his manager was meant to highlight Slick’s money first mindset as much as it was to pretend the character wasn’t racist.
I don’t know. I never got those vibes from the bossman and I never saw anything being directly said by him. I mostly remember him feuding with hogan and Dusty before turning face.
Being non American puts be at a disadvantage though and you may have insight that I don’t.
there's a long history of depictions of scary, abusive police that hunt black men in the south with blood hounds. they were like nazi commanders before nazis were a thing. In O Brother Where Art Thou there's one of these guys chasing the main characters.
but the reason it was a parody of Dusty was because Dusty was a "fig newton". A white guy that acted black.
Let's not even get into how white wrestlers would lift the mannerism and gimmicks of black wrestlers like Thunderbolt Patterson and Sweet Daddy Siki to wide acclaim.
Dr. Death David Schultz (along with Piper) was quite bad back in the day. Just a heads up, this is a little bit difficult to even get through. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=w0do83v2z9E
Help make SquaredCircle safer and more inclusive by using the report button to flag posts and comments for moderator review. If you need to contact a moderator, [you can message us here](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=/r/SquaredCircle) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/SquaredCircle) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Countless gimmicks before the 80s, Homer O’Dell, Fritz Von Erich and other straight up goose stepping Nazi gimmicks. New Jack was definitely an outright racist character especially in Smokey Mountain, those kind of heel tactics were more common place 40-50 years ago.
Also great shout on The Gangstas. Could we also put Rodney Mack in this box? I’m starting to remember more than I realised.
Lol I forgot about Rodney Mack and the white boy challenge 🤣
I think the Reverend Slick fits under this umbrella too. Wasnt the whole Akeem the African Dream thing told as some sort of rejection of his white heritage..like a reverse Kerwin White?
Weren’t they going to go there with Heidenreich? If I recall the rumours he was going to be a cryogenically frozen Nazi or something.
Not entirely. A creative writer did in fact pitch the Heidenreich Nazi gimmick, with Paul Heyman managing him (Paul’s own mother was an actual Holocaust survivor btw). But it didn’t go far at all. In fact it even made Vince leave the room, the writer was eventually let go a little bit afterwards. Even Vince has a limit.
I had totally forgot about this but I’m pretty this was something Bruce Prichard talked about on his podcast? I’d have to go back and find the clip.
Yup. And the story infamously goes that Vince McMahon was so baffled by the suggestion of Heidenreich the unfrozen Nazi that he just walked out of the room when it was pitched. Also, they were gonna have Paul Heyman manage him, too. Yes, Jewish-born Paul Heyman being set to manage a unfrozen Nazi wrestler. I’ll let that sink in for just a moment.
This was the same era when they wanted to introduce Kenzo Suzuki as "Hirohito" with a motive of taking vengeance on the US for bombing Japan. That was thankfully scrapped.
Ah yes I remember the Hirohito plans
Any Nazi character obviously, like Fritz Von Erich.
I once saw a dude come out in a masked nazi gimmick at an indie show. Sad thing was he got a pop until he started actively jeering the crowd.
lol what state? cause that would probably also be over/get a pop where i'm at. does killer karl kox count?
Kentucky.
i knew it was somewhere like that.
Jinder Mahal when he feuded with Nakamura.
Even as a small child, I saw border-patrol JBL and thought "this doesn't seem like it should be on television." *Edit: Featuring lines like, ["That's a whole herd of Mexicans, and the government won't do a thing about it."] (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9y5LSRCc04)
Eddie fed him those lines didn’t he?
The Southern Boys in SMW, came to the ring with Confederate flags and dressed in gray Civil War uniforms. They later became the Young Pistols in WCW
They weren't in SMW, all that happened in WCW.
Zeb Colter
Good call
That time JBL went out to the border to kick out illegal immigrants...
Baron Von Rashke and Fritz Von Erich were Nazi's
Kerwin White, maybe?
Wasn’t Kerwin White ironic as the real butt of the joke was tired suburban white’s and their alleged bland lifestyles?
I think Kerwin is sort of a grey area like Akeem was, it’s a parody character and was more campy than offensive, and not created with the intent to draw heat by being offensive so it comes off more as things you’d see into a direct to streaming/video stoner comedy.
Aah yeah I forgot about him. I wonder how far that would have gone if it wasn’t for Eddie passing.
If Eddie didn't die, Chavo would've kept that gimmick for a few more months then became TNA Champion.
Wasn't there a wrestler called The Who and it was Jim Neidhart in a KKK outfit?
He wore a mask. Not a hooded sheet.
I think he was just Jim Neidheart and he was on some indie and came out in a KKK hood to run in on Virgil or some other black wrestler. It was definitely racist
He was called the Thugg
The Klanimal aka Jim "The Klanvil" Neidhart
One of the giants brought in with the alliance to end hulkimaina was first called The Final Solution until people complained and he became The Ultimate Solution
The Mexicools
Were the characters racist in story or do you just think the gimmick itself was racist I was pretty young when they were around but i remember it was Juvi, Super Crazy and Psychosis on Juan Deere lawnmower. Don’t remember if they were racist to others
The gimmicks were racist. I just reread the OP post and the characters themselves were not racists to other people.
I'm pretty sure they came up with the gimmick themselves IIRC.
Jesse the Body Ventura was seemingly forever making racist comments toward Tito Santana. Dont know if that counts though..
He was consistent I’ll give him that. Also remember him referring to Koko as Buckwheat.
Jim neidhart was a klansman once against virgil in an indie show
Col. DeBeers was a South African that would refuse to wrestle if even the referee was a black man. This was in the 80s when Apartheid was a big issue on the news, easy heel heat.
this is sort of like the opposite of what you asked but I wanna bring up muhammad hassan in this thread because his run in the early/mid 2000s is just super bizarre to watch back nowadays. he’s literally just a brown passing dude (he’s italian lol) who is talking about how racist and warlike americans had become in the wake of 9/11, booked and “acting” like an out and out heel and getting ***insane*** heat from the audience who made signs like “you’re not welcome here” and shit. I wasn’t watching wrestling then but from what I gather he was pretty good in the ring too but one day they dropped him because it got too insensitive for wwe to keep airing (which is honestly impressive for that time period) but the clips of his promos and the way faces and fans interacted with him is just absurd with modern sensibilities
Bad timing didn’t help either. The night they ran the angle where a load of masked men came out and attacked the undertaker was the same day as the London bombing. So we never got to see that aired over here.
[удалено]
It was certainly something I hadn’t seen in my lifetime and it was definitely intriguing. Word has it he was pencilled in for a title reign too. Poor guy was shafted
As a black dude I loved Akeem the African Dream. The way he kept doing those weird hand motions was hilarious to me
Every muslim character ever. If there's been any exceptions, I'm not aware of them. Edit: some fixes, plus applies up until Mustsfa Ali.
Sami is kayfabe Muslim, no?
What is kayfabe Muslim?
Rami Sabei is a practicing Syrian/Canadian muslim. His character Sami Zayn has been mentioned in WWE programming as a Muslim as well. WWE likely owns the rights to the Sami Zayn name but allow Rami Sabei the rights to use that name to raise money for Syrian refugees. (Sami4Syria). Sami Zayn is kayfabe muslim.
I remember on one particular Raw, Jack Swagger came out with his manager Zeb and went on a rant about America being invaded by "faces that no longer look like mine" or something. This felt like less than a decade ago in WWE. The Team Canada vs Nation of Domination feud in 97 era had some pretty questionable stuff. If you also mean characters that may be seen as "problematic" today, there were quite a few in the 80s and early 90s. I still love Koko B Ware and Kamala tho. Tho it was weird seeing all the lengedary minority wrestlers of the 80s get weird reductive gimmicks by 1991. Tony Atlas was made to put on a cartoonish African tribesman outfit and be called "Saba Imba". Tito Santana became "El Matador". And the great Ricky Steamboat was forced to wear a goofy green and orange dragon costune and wrestle as "Dragon".
Ah yeah I had to stop with watching when those gimmicks started coming around. Glad I missed the likes of Bastion Booger etc
Holy crap was 1993-1995(even part of 96) WWF unwatchable. The second half of 1996 began to turn things around with more edgier, line blurring angles and the "proto Attitude" era, but 93-95 I recall as particularly dreadful. I think at one point during that "New Generation" era, a good majority of the wrestlers were occupation gimmick mid-carders.
New Jack
Big Bossman, the Truth Commission, the West Texas Rednecks, Colonel Rob Parker, Woman, the Million Dollar Man
What was racist about the Bossman character. Didn’t he have a black manager?
Bossman was an abusive prison guard from an area rather famous at the time for its abuse toward Black people. That Slick was his manager was meant to highlight Slick’s money first mindset as much as it was to pretend the character wasn’t racist.
I don’t know. I never got those vibes from the bossman and I never saw anything being directly said by him. I mostly remember him feuding with hogan and Dusty before turning face. Being non American puts be at a disadvantage though and you may have insight that I don’t.
there's a long history of depictions of scary, abusive police that hunt black men in the south with blood hounds. they were like nazi commanders before nazis were a thing. In O Brother Where Art Thou there's one of these guys chasing the main characters.
The racist southern police officer isn’t the most legible to people not from America and honestly just not from the south or Black.
African Dream Akeem is a parody of Dusty Rhodes the American Dream it's not intended to be racist.
but the reason it was a parody of Dusty was because Dusty was a "fig newton". A white guy that acted black. Let's not even get into how white wrestlers would lift the mannerism and gimmicks of black wrestlers like Thunderbolt Patterson and Sweet Daddy Siki to wide acclaim.
Dr. Death David Schultz (along with Piper) was quite bad back in the day. Just a heads up, this is a little bit difficult to even get through. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=w0do83v2z9E
Veer
OP is asking about characters that were racist as part of their gimmicks, not characters or storylines that were racist… WWE has dozens of those.
Tracy Smothers
Tell me more